


Firefly Star

by Rethira



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi, Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 01:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/413313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rethira/pseuds/Rethira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They are so close, and yet they are so far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Firefly Star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raphiael](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raphiael/gifts).



> This is very definitely a Fire Emblem AU, based on Magic Knight Rayearth.
> 
> For Raphiael, who is the best friend I could ever have.

Elphin rises with the sun. Or perhaps the sun rises with Elphin. It is hard to tell sometimes; when Percival lets himself forget, for a few moments, that their world is entirely dependent on Elphin. But he always remembers before he says anything too damaging, says anything too terrible, and then Elphin is the Pillar again, and Percival would lay down his life to defend him.

(Percival would do that even if Elphin weren’t the Pillar, but it is safer to forget that.)

It had struck Percival as strange that Elphin should awake when the sun rose; it was well known that the Prince – Mildain, he had been called then, but he had discarded that name upon becoming the Pillar – was near completely blind. Why then, should the sun rouse him? And yet it did, each and every day. Elphin woke, and he opened his unseeing eyes, and he dressed and then he greeted the peaceful new day with pale, unfocused eyes. He smiled to the guards and the servants and he prayed, quietly and confidently, all the time, so that Elibe would not fall into ruin.

(He _was_ the sun, Percival later thought, and blind to his own brilliance.)

No-one comes to harm the Pillar. It was an honour to serve him of course, to be his chief guardian and claim the title High Priest. But Percival was not a spiritual man, and often he would think over the other candidates; Lady Cecilia would have been a better fit, Percival had thought. He had only been considered because of his prowess in battle, and yet he’d been chosen.

(At the ceremony, there had been something nameless in Elphin’s eyes – at least, something Percival doesn’t want to name.)

One bright spring morning, Elphin calls Percival up to the tallest tower of the Palace. He stands by the edge, unseeing eyes staring into the distance.

“Is it beautiful, Percival?” Elphin asks. “Is this world beautiful?”

“Yes,” Percival says.

(He holds back the words, _but not as beautiful as you_.)

Guinevere meets with him one day – being the High Priest has many meetings, most of which Percival wishes he could decline to attend. She doesn’t look as powerful as she is, but then, neither does Elphin. Both have the same soft features, the same kindness in their hearts; Percival could easily imagine Guinevere in the role of the Pillar, holding all Elibe together, but her power lies elsewhere.

“Prince Elphin has been saying strange things to me lately,” she murmurs. She frowns. “The world remains the same, and yet….” Guinevere looks at Percival. “You look very healthy, Percival.”

(Percival pretends not to understand what she’s getting at.)

Elphin takes excursions on occasion. He cannot see the smiling faces of the people, but it does them good to see him. So no-one is all that surprised when Elphin leaves. He bids Percival guide him, and they visit an island far to the south, where few even live. A handful of people meet them, and they sigh to see Elphin. But Percival is wary; this far from any truly inhabited place is surely dangerous for Elphin.

“Let me take you home,” he begs.

But Elphin will not be dissuaded, so they press on, further and further until-

(As the door clangs shut behind him, Percival is sure he can see Elphin crying.)

They come, just as Guinevere said they would.

Red, blue and green arrayed against him. Come to kill Elphin, although they cannot know that.

Percival calls his _mashin_ , and rides out to meet his death.

(He thinks he can hear Elphin screaming just as he dies, but perhaps that is just a trick of his mind.)


End file.
